New York closed $8.2B in Series B rounds across 145+ deals in 2025. Average round size was $28M, up from $22M in 2023. The city has the second-largest pool of growth capital in the US after SF. You'll compete with 200+ companies ready for Series B, and investors expect $10M+ ARR for SaaS or clear paths to $50M+ revenue for other models.
Insight Partners (Manhattan): Led Shopify's $100M Series B, NYC's most active growth investor
Tiger Global (Manhattan): Backed Stripe at $245M Series B, aggressive growth stage firm
Accel (Manhattan): Led Slack's $80M Series B, maintains strong NYC presence
General Atlantic (Manhattan): Backed Airbnb at $200M Series B, large check growth equity
Stripes (Manhattan): Led Glossier's $52M Series C, consumer and fintech focus
FirstMark Capital (Manhattan): Backed Shopify and Riot Games at Series B, NYC-based fund
Thrive Capital (Manhattan): Led Oscar Health's $32M Series B, healthcare and fintech specialist
Lerer Hippeau (Manhattan): Backed Warby Parker through Series B, most active NYC early-to-growth
Union Square Ventures (Manhattan): Led Coinbase's Series B, platform investor
Spark Capital (Manhattan): Backed Slack and Coinbase at Series B, bi-coastal presence
RRE Ventures (Manhattan): Led MongoDB's Series B before IPO, enterprise software focus
Greycroft (Manhattan): Backed Bumble at $31M Series B, consumer and marketplace specialist
Primary Venture Partners (Brooklyn): Led Harry's $112M Series D after earlier rounds
Bain Capital Ventures (Manhattan): Backed Jet.com at $80M Series B before Walmart acquisition
Index Ventures (Manhattan): Led Dropbox's Series B, maintains NYC office
IA Ventures (Brooklyn): Backed DataDog through Series B, data infrastructure specialist
Battery Ventures (Manhattan): Led Nutanix Series B before IPO, enterprise infrastructure
Bessemer Venture Partners (Manhattan): Backed Twilio through Series B and IPO, cloud software
Scale Venture Partners (San Francisco/NYC): Led Box's Series B, active in NYC market
Edison Partners (Princeton/NYC): Backed ZoomInfo through growth rounds, B2B SaaS specialist
NYC Series B investors deployed $8.2B across 145+ deals in 2025. Average round size hit $28M, with 65% going to B2B SaaS and fintech companies. That's 25% smaller than SF's average Series B but closes 30% faster because NYC investors move quicker once diligence starts.
New York has the deepest bench of growth stage investors outside SF. Insight Partners alone deployed $2B+ into growth companies in 2025. Tiger Global wrote checks into 40+ Series B rounds. The capital is here, but so are the expectations - you need $10M+ ARR for SaaS, $50M+ revenue for ecommerce, or category-defining metrics for other models.
The advantage is investor sophistication. NYC growth investors have seen thousands of Series B companies and know exactly what good looks like. They won't waste time if your metrics don't work. The disadvantage is competition - you're pitching against companies with better logos, faster growth, or stronger unit economics. Series B in NYC rewards the top 20% of each cohort.
Local presence: NYC Series B investors expect you to have real traction, not just revenue. They'll ask about your enterprise customer mix, sales team productivity, and gross margin trends. Manhattan-based firms like Insight Partners and Tiger Global can intro you to their 300+ portfolio companies for partnerships and customers faster than remote investors.
Portfolio companies: Check if they've backed companies at your stage and scale. Insight Partners has 50+ B2B SaaS companies at Series B and beyond. Tiger Global focuses on high-growth consumer and fintech. Thrive Capital specializes in healthcare and financial services. Look for investors who've taken companies from $10M to $100M ARR in your category.
Check sizes: Series B rounds in NYC run $20-40M with lead checks of $15-25M. Insight Partners and Tiger Global write $20-40M checks, Thrive Capital does $15-30M, FirstMark leads with $10-20M. Expect 2-3 investors in your round. If you're raising under $15M, you're probably still Series A regardless of what you call it.
Local network: The best NYC Series B investors connect you to strategic customers and later-stage capital sources. General Atlantic opens doors to Fortune 500 partnerships through their growth equity LP base. Battery Ventures connects you to enterprise CIOs. FirstMark introduces you to their consumer and infrastructure portfolio. That network compounds as you scale.
Communication: Share your deck through Ellty with unique tracking links for each investor. NYC Series B investors want to see detailed financial models, sales efficiency metrics, and cohort analysis. Track which slides they review - if they skip your product roadmap but read your unit economics three times, they're worried about profitability not features.
Follow-on capacity: Insight Partners, Tiger Global, and General Atlantic all have multi-billion dollar funds for Series C and beyond. Mid-size funds like Thrive Capital and FirstMark typically participate in later rounds but won't lead. Ask about ownership targets - most NYC growth investors want 10-20% at Series B and expect to maintain or increase in later rounds.
Research local deals: Check Insight Partners' portfolio page and Tiger Global's recent investments. Both publish detailed case studies. Read S-1 filings from NYC-backed IPOs like MongoDB, Datadog, and UiPath to see what growth investors valued. PitchBook tracks Series B deals more accurately than Crunchbase for this stage.
Leverage local ecosystem: Join peer groups like Pavilion or SaaStr for introductions to growth stage investors. Attend FirstMark's CEO Summit or Insight Partners' ScaleUp conferences. These events put you directly in front of partners making Series B decisions. NYC doesn't have many formal accelerators at this stage - it's all relationship-driven. Establishing a GDPR-compliant document-sharing workflow signals to New York VCs that your company is built to handle regulation and scale responsibly.
Build relationships early: NYC Series B investors track companies for 12-18 months before investing. They want to see you hit milestones and handle scale challenges. Share quarterly updates with target investors starting at $5M ARR even if you're not raising yet. When you're ready for Series B, you'll already have momentum.
Share your pitch deck: Upload to Ellty and create separate links for each NYC investor. Growth stage VCs share decks with their investment committee and operating partners, so you'll see exactly who's reviewing internally. Monitor engagement - if a partner forwards your deck to their CFO or sales leader, that's a strong signal.
Attend local events: SaaStr Annual draws NYC investors even though it's in SF. SaaStr New York brings growth investors to Manhattan quarterly. Distributed conference in November focuses on B2B software and attracts every active Series B fund. Skip generic startup events - at this stage you need sector-specific conferences.
Connect with portfolio founders: Message CEOs at MongoDB, Datadog, UiPath, or Oscar Health on LinkedIn. Ask which investors actually helped scale versus who just attended board meetings. NYC growth investors are evaluated on value-add, not just capital. Founders will tell you who delivers.
Organize due diligence: Set up an Ellty data room before starting Series B conversations. Investors will want access to your financial model, sales pipeline, customer contracts, and HR org chart. They'll ask for Salesforce access and financial system logins. Have everything organized with audit logs showing who viewed what.
Understand local pace: Series B rounds take 10-14 weeks from first meeting to term sheet. That includes 4-6 weeks of relationship building, 3-4 weeks of formal diligence, and 2-3 weeks of documentation. NYC moves faster than SF at this stage because investors make decisions quicker. If a fund is taking 20+ weeks, they're not serious.
NYC investors at Series B care about capital efficiency more than SF growth funds. They've seen too many companies raise huge rounds, burn through capital, and struggle at Series C. If you're losing $3M per month with $15M ARR, expect tough questions about your path to profitability. Show a plan to reach break-even within 18-24 months.
Expect 5-7 partner meetings before term sheets. NYC growth investors want to meet your full executive team, talk to customers, and review detailed financial models. They'll reference check you through their portfolio companies. Plan for 3 months from first meeting to closed round. That's faster than late-stage rounds but slower than Series A.
NYC's financial services and enterprise software concentration drives different expectations. Investors here understand complex sales cycles and enterprise contracts better than consumer growth metrics. Don't pitch them consumer viral loops or marketplace network effects unless that's your actual model. Show them sales efficiency, gross retention, and expansion revenue - the metrics that matter for B2B growth.
The largest growth stage investor globally with $90B+ AUM. They've backed 400+ software companies and lead 50+ Series B rounds annually.
Aggressive growth investor writing $20-40M+ checks into high-growth companies. They backed Stripe when others said payments were too crowded.
Iconic Silicon Valley firm with strong NYC presence. Slack's Series B showed their ability to spot generational companies early.
Multi-billion dollar growth equity firm focused on technology and financial services. Airbnb's Series B put them on the consumer tech map.
Thiel Fellowship founders who built a consumer and fintech-focused growth fund. Glossier's $52M round validated their consumer thesis.
NYC-native growth fund that backed Shopify at $7M Series A and stayed through IPO. They're founder-friendly and thesis-driven.
Josh Kushner's firm focused on financial services and healthcare. Oscar Health's Series B showed their conviction in regulated industries.
NYC's most active early-to-growth fund. Warby Parker through Series B showed they can scale consumer brands.
Platform investor who led Coinbase and Twitter through crucial growth rounds. They focus on network effects businesses.
Bi-coastal firm with strong NYC presence. Slack and Coinbase at Series B showed their platform investment thesis.
Long-time NYC enterprise investor who backed MongoDB from Series B through IPO. They understand database and infrastructure businesses.
Consumer and marketplace specialist who backed Bumble at $31M Series B. They understand two-sided platforms.
Brooklyn-based fund that stayed with Harry's through $112M Series D. Sustainable consumer focus with enterprise expansion.
Strategic venture arm from private equity giant. Jet.com's $80M Series B before Walmart's $3.3B acquisition showed their consumer expertise.
European firm with NYC office focused on infrastructure and SaaS. Dropbox's Series B put them on the map for consumer-facing infrastructure.
Brooklyn-based data infrastructure specialist. DataDog from seed through IPO showed their understanding of observability and monitoring.
Enterprise infrastructure specialist who led Nutanix from Series B to IPO. They understand complex enterprise sales.
Cloud software specialist who backed Twilio from Series B through IPO. They understand API and platform businesses.
B2B software specialist who led Box from Series B to IPO. They focus on sales-driven software companies.
Growth stage B2B specialist who backed ZoomInfo through multiple rounds before its $1.4B IPO. Princeton-based but very active in NYC.
These 20 investors led or participated in 120+ NYC Series B rounds in 2025-2026. Before starting outreach to Manhattan funds, set up proper tracking so you understand which investors are actually engaged versus just being polite.
Upload your deck to Ellty and create unique links for each NYC growth investor. You'll see which slides they review and how long they spend on your financial model. Series B investors in New York skip product details and jump straight to unit economics, sales efficiency, and cohort retention - your analytics will show this pattern immediately.
When Insight Partners or Tiger Global ask for detailed financials and customer references, share an Ellty data room instead of emailing 15 files. Keep your financial model, sales pipeline, customer contracts, and org chart organized in one secure place with view tracking. Series B investors expect this level of organization before partner meetings.
Do I need to be based in New York to raise Series B from NYC investors?
No, but it helps for meetings and relationship building. Insight Partners and Tiger Global have backed SF, LA, and international companies successfully. The issue is NYC Series B investors want quarterly face time with portfolio CEOs. If you're west coast-based, budget for monthly NYC trips. Most successful NYC-backed companies have at least one exec based in New York by Series B.
How does New York compare to SF for Series B fundraising?
NYC has slightly less capital at Series B ($8.2B vs SF's $11B in 2025) but comparable number of active funds. Average round size is 20% smaller in NYC ($28M vs $35M) but closes faster (10-14 weeks vs 14-18 weeks). NYC investors care more about capital efficiency while SF tolerates higher burn rates. Both markets are highly competitive at Series B.
What metrics do I need for Series B in NYC?
For B2B SaaS: $10M+ ARR, 100%+ net revenue retention, sub-12 month CAC payback, 70%+ gross margins. For ecommerce: $50M+ GMV, positive contribution margin, clear path to profitability. For fintech: $20M+ revenue or significant transaction volume with unit economics that work. For consumer: 5M+ MAU with strong engagement or $10M+ revenue with retention above 50%.
Should I raise my Series B locally or go to SF?
Raise in NYC if you're in fintech, B2B SaaS, healthcare tech, or enterprise software - the investor expertise is equal to SF. Raise in SF if you're in consumer social, marketplace platforms, or deep tech - they have more specialized investors. Most companies talk to investors in both markets and take the best terms. Geography matters less at Series B than investor quality.
How long does Series B take to close in NYC?
10-14 weeks from first meaningful conversation to signed term sheet. That includes 4-6 weeks of relationship building, 3-4 weeks of diligence (financial review, customer calls, market analysis), and 2-3 weeks for documentation. If you're talking to multiple firms, add 2-3 weeks for competitive dynamics. Series B is faster than Series C but slower than Series A.
Can I skip Series B and go straight to Series C?
Only if you have exceptional metrics and can raise $50M+ at Series B pricing. Some companies raise large Series B rounds ($40M+) and call them Series B even though they're Series C-sized. What matters is your traction and story, not the letter. If you're at $25M+ ARR growing 100%+ with strong unit economics, you might skip traditional Series B and raise growth equity instead.
What's the difference between Series B and growth equity in NYC?
Series B typically means $15-35M rounds at $10-20M ARR for SaaS companies. Growth equity means $40M+ rounds at $30M+ ARR. Series B investors take 15-25% ownership, growth equity takes 10-20%. Series B investors are more hands-on, growth equity is more operational. Many NYC firms like Insight Partners and General Atlantic do both, so the lines blur based on company stage.